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First time accepted submitter VanGarrett writes "Someone at the University of Chicago went through a lot of trouble to baffle a few people, with an old timey package addressed to Indiana Jones. From the article: 'The package contained an incredibly detailed replica of "University of Chicago Professor" Abner Ravenwood's journal from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. It looks only sort of like this one, but almost exactly like this one, so much so that we thought it might have been the one that was for sale on Ebay had we not seen some telling inconsistencies in cover color and "Ex Libris" page (and distinct lack of sword). The book itself is a bit dusty, and the cover is teal fabric with a red velvet spine, with weathered inserts and many postcards/pictures of Marion Ravenwood (and some cool old replica money) included. It's clear that it is mostly, but not completely handmade, as although the included paper is weathered all of the "handwriting" and calligraphy lacks the telltale pressure marks of actual handwriting.'"

A few years back at UGA, someone called in a suspicious looking paper bag was found outside a building and the bomb squad was called in.. IIRC, a remote-controlled robot was used to open it up to find someone left some muffins. I believe the two buildings and parking deck were cleared out.. want to say at least 20 or 30 classes cancelled (400+ students)

There were some people calling shenanigans on the whole thing afterwards, saying it was an over reaction.. but hindsight is 20/20. I think they did a good

Performance art? It's obviously an application to the College (received in December, duh). Among some alumni, bets on the declared major range from Art Restoration & Museum/Library Curation to Archeology, Egyptology, & Paleontology. I almost went into Paleontology. One of my best friends has a B.A. in Egyptology. I have a half-dozen acquaintances I know who focused in various Museum/Library curator positions. It could be any.

Every so often there's a story in the news about a letter that got lost in the post office for 50-60 years – seems like it's usually WWII era mail from a GI to his girlfriend or something similar – and the post office finally delivering it.

I happen to know that in the stamp collecting world there are literally tons of old, stamped envelopes, often with the original correspondence inside. I'm convinced that there's some joker out there who periodically drops one of the

Internet: help us out. If you’re on Reddit (we’re not) or any other nerdly social media sites where we might get information about this, feel free to post far and wide and e-mail any answers, clues, ideas, thoughts, or musings to indianajonesjournal@uchicago.edu (yes, we did set up an email account just to deal with this thing).

"We’ve been completely baffled as to why this was sent to us, in mostly a good way, but it’s clear this is a neat thing that either belongs somewhere else— or belongs in the halls of UChicago admissions history."

"We’ve been completely baffled as to why this was sent to us, in mostly a good way, but it’s clear this is a neat thing that either belongs somewhere else— or belongs in the halls of UChicago admissions history."

"Weâ(TM)ve been completely baffled as to why this was sent to us, in mostly a good way, but itâ(TM)s clear this is a neat thing that either belongs somewhere elseâ" or belongs in the halls of UChicago admissions history."

They have posted an update here [tumblr.com]... I would say their most plausible explanation is probably the correct one judging from the original picture [tumblr.com]:

Most plausible, least exciting: someone purchased one from the replica-maker on Ebay that we linked to yesterday, and on its way to the recipient, it wormed its way out of an outside package. Thinking the Egyptian postage was legit, a wayward mail carrier wrote on our zip code and it hitchhiked its way to our office. Certainly less exciting than our other options, but would still be a hilarious end to our vexing problem. If you are the original Ebay seller of this item and have an angry customer who never got their package, please let us know.

I don't buy it. The package is addressed to 1101 East 58th Street. That's the UChicago Administration and Admissions office address. No way. It's obviously a College application. And a good one too! Somebody has a sense of aesthetics. Probably someone wanting to go into Art Preservation or Museum Curratorship. Maybe Egyptology or Paleontology.

It's obviously a College application. And a good one too! Somebody has a sense of aesthetics. Probably someone wanting to go into Art Preservation or Museum Curratorship. Maybe Egyptology or Paleontology.

Or maybe creative Forgery??

That's it! We've found it -- it's obviously a business school application!

And it makes quite a lot of sense. The post office does do its best to deliver everything.

I had a friend in school (at UChicago no less) get a postcard from their parents who were traveling somewhere out of the country. Their parents couldn't remember the address and literally wrote something like
Firstname Lastname
University of Chicago
Chicago, IL

The card eventually made it all of the way to campus. They lived in on campus housing, so once the card made it into the university's mail system, they m

I'd appreciate you forwarding the journal since I'll be out of the office for some time. If any Germans, especially one with a burned hand, attempt to claim the journal please deny any knowledge of it's existence.
Sincerely Indy

As a UChicago grad, I think the answer is obvious. It was delivered to the Admissions office during the month of December. It's an application to the college. The Admissions office would just like to know who it's from!:)

It's daring, if somewhat obvious. But to my knowledge, it hasn't actually been done before. It was bound to happen eventually, however. I'm just kind of surprised it took this long, in fact. Whoever sent it will obviously get in if they have a modicum of academic ability or talent. It's exactly the kind of nerdy stunt, with an appreciation for aesthetics, that UChicago appreciates.

It was Adam Savage (Mythbusters) who sent it. He is a widely know collector & creator of movie prop's & he sent this for fun. It took me about 3 minutes to figure this out so I'm kinda surprised nobody connected the dots.